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Facebook’s Growing Problem – Passive Users

Facebook’s Growing Problem – Passive Users

keyboard passiveFacebook is the most popular social networking site in the world (except China) with the most members (81%) and the most active users (42%) according to December 2014 data from GlobalWebIndex. However, Facebook was the only large social network to see its active usage drop in 2014 (by 9%). At the same time, Facebook is facing an even bigger problem, which GlobalWebIndex refers to as passive Facebooking.

As 2014 drew to a close, GlobalWebIndex reports that only 52% of Facebook users were active users, which is a significant drop from 70% in 2012. When they do use Facebook, users are just browsing without actually posting or commenting on anything they read or see. In December 2014, two out of five Facebook users (not including China) used the site passively to browse but not to interact.

What’s causing the shift to passive Facebooking? Is it that people are becoming more interactive on other social media sites? Are they unhappy with privacy and tracking policies used on Facebook? Are they using their mobile devices to access Facebook which makes them less likely, statistically, to interact rather than just consume content? Have changes to how Facebook presents information in users’ news feeds affected their behavior?

While Facebook is seeing a decline in active usage (although still at levels higher than other social media sites), competitors are seeing huge gains. Pinterest grew its active users by 97% in 2014 while Tumblr grew active users by 95%. Snapchat was the fastest growing social/messaging application in 2014 (+57%), and YouTube is getting visits from more people (82% of internet users between the ages of 16 and 64) than Facebook (73%).

GlobalWebIndex also reports that the total amount of time that people spend on social networks continues to increase. In 2012, they spent an average of 1.61 hours per day on social networks, and in 2014, that number increased to 1.72 hours per day.

Bottom-line, social networking and social media overall continue to grow, but Facebook appears to already be moving past the maturity stage into the decline stage. If the trend toward passive usage continues, the company could be in big trouble very soon. Already, brands are unhappy with how Page updates are displayed to fans, making it nearly necessary to pay for advertising to get any brand exposure on the the site. For a site that depends on interaction of its users for many things, passive usage is a very big problem.

What do you think? Should Facebook be worried? Are you investing your 2015 social media time and online advertising budgets into Facebook at the same levels you have in the past or are you shifting your brand to other social sites? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Teresa Howes

State of Marketing 2015

calendarLeads, acquisition, and technology top the list of marketers’ highest priorities and biggest challenges in 2015 according to Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s 2015 State of Marketing report.

It’s important to note that marketers from around the world participated in the Salesforce survey, so these results are representative of a diverse pool of marketers, companies, and industries.

While challenges abound for marketers in 2015, budget increases will focus on digital marketing, particularly social media and mobile marketing.

In total, 84% of respondents to the Salesforce survey indicated that they plan to increase digital marketing spending in 2015 with the most common budget increases going to: social media engagement (67%), location-based mobile tracking (67%), mobile applications (66%), mobile-push notifications (65%), web personalization (65%), marketing automation (63%), and content marketing (62%).

Despite these budget increases for digital marketing strategies and tactics, calculating return on investment did not rank as one of the most important metrics for marketers in 2015. Revenue growth ranked as the most important metric for 32% of marketers who responded to the survey followed by customer satisfaction, which ranked as the most important metric for 30% of respondents. Only 23% of respondents said that customer retention, acquisition, and ROI, collectively, was the most important metric to track marketing performance.

Taking a closer look at the high priority challenges identified by marketers for 2015, respondents ranked 20 specific challenges. The full breakdown is shown below. Notice that the gap from the top priority challenge and the lowest priority challenge is only 19 percentage points (not including the “Other” response). In other words, marketers have a lot of challenges and they’re all priorities.

Marketers Top Challenges in 2015

  1. New business development = 27%
  2. Quality of leads = 27%
  3. Remaining up to date with current marketing technology and trends = 27%
  4. Customer acquisition = 26%
  5. Quantifying marketing’s return on investment = 25%
  6. Integration of marketing tools and systems = 25%
  7. Demand and lead generation = 23%
  8. Budget constraints = 23%
  9. Building deeper customer relationships = 22%
  10. Creating personalized, cross-channel experiences = 22%
  11. Producing unique, original content = 22%
  12. Using existing data to drive more relevant messages and experiences = 21%
  13. Keeping pace with competitors = 21%
  14. Staying ahead of social media trends = 21%
  15. Talent acquisition and retention = 20%
  16. Understanding what data to analyze = 20%
  17. Shifting consumer demographics = 19%
  18. Channel expansion and device adoption = 18%
  19. Enterprise-level system optimization = 18%
  20. Other = 1%

It’s not surprising to see the expected increase in digital marketing budgets in 2015 given the positive results marketers have had with social media and mobile marketing. The Salesforce study found that 68% of marketers believed their email marketing and social media marketing efforts were effective. Other digital marketing tactics were reported as effective by 58% or more of the survey respondents.

Comparing marketers’ opinions about their top challenges, anticipated budget increases, and prior program effectiveness, it’s not surprising to see digital marketing as a top priority for marketers in 2015. Now, they just have to ensure their investments are driving leads and converting those leads into new customers. Of course, that’s a challenge that never stops for marketers.

 Image: Felipe Wiecheteck

Kia Rolls out Brand Repositioning Ad Campaign

kia hood ornamentThis month, Kia is making headlines in the United Kingdom with its new ad campaign that includes television, print, digital, and social. It’s not the ads themselves that are driving buzz about the Kia brand, it’s about the goal of the ads—to reposition the Kia brand.

For years, Kia has been known as the affordable car brand. It comfortably occupied that space in the marketplace and consumers were familiar with and trusted the Kia brand promise where value equaled affordability. Now, Kia is trying to reposition its brand as a different kind of value brand than what consumers have come to expect.

According to Sara Spary from BrandRepublic, “The ad, Kia claimed, has a ‘premium feel’ and is designed to communicate the brands ‘quality, reliability, design and technology’, positioning it as a value brand.” Using the word ‘premium’ makes it clear that Kia’s new brand positioning won’t be all about price value. Now, value will translate into higher quality, and what customers will anticipate will eventually translate into higher prices.

Will the brand repositioning work? It did for Hyundai.

In the early days of the Hyundai brand, it owned the word “cheap” in consumers’ minds. In order to reposition the brand, the company redesigned its cars to be more contemporary and launched an unprecedented warranty program that competitors are still trying to copy today. Consumer perceptions were changed as the new car styling attracted their eyes and the warranty appealed to their wallets as well as to their need for a sense of trust and security when making a big ticket purchase. Today, Hyundai’s brand reputation is much better than it was over a decade ago. Kia slid into the market position that Hyundai abandoned and has held that spot comfortably for years. If the new Kia brand positioning works, Kia won’t hold that spot for much longer.

Kia’s new ad campaign is focusing on building emotional connections with consumers with a goal to show consumers “how it feels” to drive a Kia according to Spary. She explains, “It depicts ‘real drivers’ describing what they want from their car.” This is a smart strategy that just might work.

What do you think? Does Kia have a chance at successfully repositioning its brand? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: James Case licensed CC BY 2.0

Social Media Sentiment – Brand and Industry Winners and Losers

thumbs downWhich brands are winning when it comes to generating positive social media sentiment and which are losing? Which industries are performing best when it comes to social media sentiment overall? These are two of the questions that HootSuite answered in its study of brands in eight industries from September 16 to December 16, 2014.

Using 100 million data sources tracked across 26 social platforms, HootSuite and uberVU identified the brands and industries with the most positive social media sentiment as well as the brands and industries with most negative social media sentiment.

The results might surprise you.

Industries with the Most Positive Social Media Sentiment

The following percentages are based on industry averages:

  1. Consumer Packaged Goods = 33% positive
  2. Food and Beverage = 30% positive
  3. Travel and Hospitality = 27% positive
  4. Retail = 27% positive
  5. Financial Services = 21% positive
  6. Media and Entertainment = 21% positive
  7. Automotive = 21% positive
  8. Technology = 19% positive

Industries with the Most Negative Social Media Sentiment

Again, the percentages are based on industry averages:

  1. Financial Services = 8% negative
  2. Food and Beverage = 8% negative
  3. Media and Entertainment = 7% negative
  4. Automotive = 6% negative
  5. Retail = 6% negative
  6. Technology = 5% negative
  7. Consumer Packaged Goods = 5% negative
  8. Travel and Hospitality = 4% negative

Based on these results, it would seem that some industries are simply better at attracting social media attention in both positive and negative forms. For example, the food and beverage industry ranked in the second highest spot for positive social sentiment (30%) and in the second to highest spot for negative social sentiment (8%). The good news for the industry is that the positive social sentiment is nearly three times more than the negative social sentiment.

Brands with the Most Positive Social Media Sentiment

Brands with the most positive social media sentiment according to this study are predominantly found in three industries: consumer packaged goods, food and beverage, and retail. Looking at the top three brands in each industry, just 10 of the 24 brand leaders scored +40% or higher in terms of positive social media sentiment.

The top three brands in the consumer packaged goods industry had the highest positive social media sentiment overall: Friskies (+62%), Cottonelle (+52%), and Avon (+50%). In the food and beverage industry and the retail industry, all three of the top brands had positive social media sentiment scores above +40%. The food and beverage industry leaders are: Folgers (+44%), Mott’s (+44%), and Cheetos (+43%). The retail industry leaders are: Crate & Barrel (+43%), West Elm (+42%), and Famous Footwear (+42%). One brand in the travel and hospitality industry scored above +40% in positive social media sentiment: Renaissance Hotels (+40%).

On the flip side, the brand with the most negative social media sentiment according to this study was Clorox (-21%) from the consumer packaged goods industry. Dasani (-20%) and Kool Aid (-20%) also had a lot of negative social media sentiment in the food and beverage category. Among financial companies, JP Morgan had the most negative social media sentiment (-19%), and US Airways had the most negative social media sentiment in the travel and hospitality segment (-18%).

You can see more of the data and some insights from HootSuite in the infographic below.

brand social media sentiment infographic

Image: Maare Liiv

Marketing in 2015: What’s Hot and What’s Not

digital marketingThe good news for marketing in 2015 is that 93% of enterprise marketing leaders for global brands plan to increase or maintain their marketing budgets in the next 12 months. The bad news is that some programs are falling way down on the priorities list in 2015.

Offline Marketing: Not Hot in 2015

According to research from StrongView, three marketing programs will see significantly decreased spending in the new year. In a survey of 400 marketing executives for global brands, 33% indicated their budgets for print advertising would drop in 2015. Direct mail will also decrease for 22% of respondents, and radio and television advertising spending will decrease for 18% of marketers.

Digital Marketing: Hot in 2015

On the other hand, digital marketing will thrive in 2015 with 61% of respondents indicating their email marketing budgets will go up in the new year. Social media will see a spending increase among 49% of respondents, and mobile marketing will increase for 40% of marketers who responded to the StrongView survey.

Inbound marketing and automation will be at the top of many marketers’ priority lists in 2015. In total, 42% of respondents indicated that triggered/transactional programs will see an increased investment in 2015, and 41% will increase investments in lifestyle programs. These lifecycle programs will focus on four key touchpoints:

  • Loyalty: 45%
  • Welcome: 36%
  • Winback/Re-engagement: 27%
  • Post-Purchase: 27%

2015 Marketing Concerns

Despite the planned increase in marketing budgets in 2015, marketers still have big concerns. The top three concerns among leading marketers for 2015 are related to data and integration:

  • Accessing and leveraging customer data from multiple channels and data sources: 30%
  • Coordination across marketing channels: 16%
  • Developing more relevant engagements: 13%

Data challenges for marketers are plentiful with the biggest problems among respondents to the StrongView survey identified as data cleanliness (14%), lack of budget (12%), and lack of resources (12%). With this in mind, it’s not surprising that only 51% of the survey respondents use the demographic data that they have access to in their marketing campaigns and only 48% use the purchase history data that they have access to.

The problem with data is harnessing it to improve ROI. Marketers indicated that the data they struggle the most to leverage are:

  • Web behavior: 31%
  • Sentiment: 20%
  • Life stage: 19%
  • Shopping/browsing behavior: 19%
  • External feeds: 14%

Based on this research, it is clear that digital marketing trumps offline marketing in terms of prioritization in 2015. Marketing budgets are shifting more and more towards digital and away from offline every year, but the same problems remain year after year: data and integration. Perhaps we’ll see some solutions to overcome those problems on a wide-scale debut in 2015. What do you think?

Image: Svilen Milev

12 Benefits of Video Interviewing

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Companies need to become ever more tech savvy when it comes to hiring the best talent.

The market offers plenty of software programs for candidate screening, video interviews and candidate’s skills assessment. I was surprised to find at least 70 companies who offer software programs for video interviewing.

All these technology supported tools will allow companies to hire better and faster, and finding the most suitable one for your own corporate needs would be a challenge in itself.

I would like to focus on the benefits that video interview software programs can offer. Bear in mind that there are different types of video interviews: one-way, two-way, live, and pre-recorded. The benefits may vary depending on the type of video interview you choose, and whether there is a chance to pre-record questions and answers or not.

  1. Better insights into a candidate’s personality

    A CV does not give you any hints regarding a candidate’s personality, way of communicating or presenting. A video can help you to take a quicker decision in finding out if the person might be a good fit or not.

  2. Cost cutting

    Your company can reduce travel costs: there is no need to reimburse travel expenses for candidates since the conversation is being held via screen.

  3. Time saving and therefore increased productivity

    Hiring managers can record their questions once and don’t need to repeat them for each candidate.

    Candidates don’t necessarily need to take time off from work to record and submit their answers. They can do it from the comfort of their home and therefore eliminate any travel time.

    This approach might also mean an increase in the speed of hiring.

  4. Re-evaluation is possible

    It gives a Hiring Manager the opportunity to listen to a candidate’s questions and answers over and over again. No detail can get lost. This facilitates panel feedback early in the hiring process, and means that discussions among HR professionals or clients are also possible.

  5. Candidate attraction and search

    Potentially, more candidates can be attracted, quicker, and on an international scale, not just locally.

  6. Live multimedia enriched interview experience

    Some programs allow you to review and discuss interviewees’ social media profile, online portfolio, live work samples, presentations on Slideshare alongside the interview discussion.

  7. Increased flexibility

    Having the opportunity to pre-record your interview questions and looking at the candidates’ answers at your own time gives you a certain level of flexibility.

  8. Better Employer Branding

    It would showcase your company as an enterprise which is forward-looking and tech savvy.

  9. Affordable

    You can invest in paid software solutions or give it a try with free alternatives, such as Skype or Google Hangouts (in which case the interview would have to take place in real time at a specific time).

  10. Convenient

    Interviewer and applicant don’t have to be in the same room.

  11. More passive candidates

    A company would also be able to attract a higher number of passive candidates due to the fact that they would not have to take time off from their work to get to the interview location. They would feel more encouraged to apply.

  12. Easier to organise

    It would be considerably easier and quicker to organise video interviews than to invite many candidates for face to face interviews.

Technology has changed our life dramatically in the last years and life without it is almost unimaginable. However, as great as technology has proved to be, we cannot ignore the fact that potential drawbacks also need to be looked at particularly in terms of technical and security problems. However, I do strongly believe that “video interviewing” will become standard in the foreseeable future. Some companies have already embraced this strategy while for others it will still take some time to get familiar with it and adjust to the new digital challenge.